Greece sells 2.28 bln euros of new three-year bond
Greece’s auction of a new benchmark 3.8 percent three-year government bond was easily absorbed yesterday with the auction oversubscribed 3.11 times, the country’s Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) said. PDMA sold -2.28 billion of the bond,one of the eurozone’s highest yielders, topping off the auctioned amount of -1.9 billion with -380 million of non-competitive bids. The bond was placed at a weighted average yield of 3.76 percent, compared to 3.98 percent in a November 2007 auction when the bid-cover ratio was 3.6. «Demand for bonds has risen since the beginning of the year. There is a flight to quality from investors,» said a bond dealer at a large Greek bank. «The yields in bonds have retreated from the beginning of the year after the crisis in the markets.» The settlement date for the bond, maturing March 20, 2011, is February 1. Greece, with one of the eurozone’s highest debt-to-GDP ratios, plans to borrow about -37 billion this year. (Reuters)
